The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1887-04-13
More Concerning Fathers.

Mr.. Editor Il read the article in the
WATcHMAN entitled "A Word to Fathers "
and the editorial following. l know not
who "A X. L." is, but / wish to tell you
what knoW about one of many similar in
stances. The son was given his time at
twenty and was paid good wages until he
married. when he was helped, as " A. r. L."
stated. When the daughter was of age the
father hired her three of four years, until
the mother grew so poorly the father
thought the daughter would not leave her
mother. Then he did not give her even
clothes, as A. r. L." stated but she went
out sewing some by the day and went to the
factory sometimes of winter, to store up
with clothes and get little ahead to exc
out the wardrobe in future and get some
things for the house. | will not tell you all
the scheming and planning, for fear the per-
son may be known Many are the days
when this girl Tor woman now has been
working with all her might for nothing,
and the father, with his two-horse team, has
been working for the son for nothing, the
father keeping the team meantime. Now if
you believe me you cannot think A. r. L."
has coored beyond truth. But do you sup
pose this sensitive, proud woman is going
to publish her affairs to the world, and how
do you expect to know? Previous to the
girls being old enough to do the work they
hired a girl every summer. If it could be
kept secret l would let you know the par
ties and let you visit them, if you wished,
II it can be kept secret and you wish to
know the parties, say so in your paper.
We make an exception in this case
to our general rule not to print any
communication which is not accompa-
MED by the writer's name and address,
because we wish to emphasize one or
two points in it. And first the rule in
this, as in all editorial offices, is that
the name, or initial, or whatever is
signed to the article, is printed, and
not the name of the writer, unless it is
so desired A moments reflection will
convince anybody that this is right.
The wishes of the writer should be
needed in this and the name kept pri-
vate, and it is just as right and neces-
sary that the writer should give the full
name and address as a guarantee of
good faith and the responsibility of
the writer. Please let this be under
stood by all who may favor us-that
while the real name and address must
be given, the name only signed to the
communication will be printed. In
Truths" case the article bears in
herent indications of its truth and genu-
inc character, and all we can say is that
that father is an "old hunks" I'M
worthy such a daughter, whose love
and care for her mother will some day
receive recompense. But that is one
instance. Here is another: A father we
knew of schooled his daughter, who
taught school four years before coming
of age, having her wages, as she should,
and when she worked in the house was
paid wages. One instance offsets the
other, and neither one or the other is
sufficient on which to found rule.
We read of many cases of theft, of
many revolving murders, but it will not
do when we read of one such to say
that men and women are, as a rule,
thieves or murderers. For humanity's
sake we are sorry to confess that there
are instances of all these crimes (and
what "Truth " depicts should rank as
crime), but for the credit of humanity
we must still hold that such crimes are
the exceptions and not the rule. We
would like Truths" name and adj
dress.